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The first return of the Terracotta Warriors to the UK in 10 years

Tickets to see the Terracotta Warriors when they return to the UK next year for the first time since 2008 will go on sale next Thursday, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to visit.

The ancient Chinese sculptures will go on display in Liverpool from February to October in the form of 180 artefacts, more than half of which will have never been on show in the UK before.

The exhibition, which will be staged at the World Museum as part of celebrations to mark 10 years since Liverpool was European Capital of Culture, will chart a millennia of Chinese history, from the bitter struggles of warring states in the 8th century BC to the rise of the Qin State and the unification of China in 221BC, concluding with the peace and prosperity of the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD).

Among the exhibits from the Terracotta Army, in entirety a collection of some 9,000 military sculptures intended to guard Qin Shi Huang in the afterlife, the majority of which remain buried, will be a life-sized horse as well as other objects from the Emperor’s vast burial complex.

When a similar collection went on display at the British Museum in 2007-08, it led to the some of the museum’s highest ever visitor numbers, including 400,000 advance tickets selling out, and extension of the regular opening hours and a crush at the gates on a day of events to mark Chinese New Year.

The exhibition was the most successful since Tutankhamun went on display in 1972, and Liverpool’s World Museum is expecting the Terracotta Warriors to be its busiest ever event.

“This is a tremendous coup, not just for Liverpool, but for the whole of the UK,” said David Fleming, director of the National Museums Liverpool, which is curating the exhibition.

“As home to one of the oldest Chinese communities in Europe, Liverpool is absolutely the right place for this exhibition, and we are hugely excited to be working with our museum colleagues in China to bring a collection of Warriors, and many other significant historical discoveries to the UK.

“The Terracotta Warriors have found incredible fame around the world since they were discovered by chance in 1974, and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see them in Liverpool.”

The Terracotta Warriors were discovered near Xi’an, the ancient capital of China, across three large pits to the east of the Emperor’s mausoleum and part of a burial site that covers some 21 square miles. As well as the horses and chariots, each soldier sculpture was found with its own individual hair, clothing and facial features.

Dr James Lin, from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, has been appointed by National Museums Liverpool as the exhibition’s guest curator. He said the exhibition promises to be “an extraordinary exhibition, exploring this fascinating pursuit of immortality”.

General sale tickets will be available from 10am on November 9, while a pre-sale for National Museum Liverpool members starts at 10am on November 6. China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors at Liverpool’s World Museum will run from February 9 to Octobert 28 2018. For more information see here.